The leader of a border governors group Monday said Mexican and U.S. border states need to work together on nagging water and environmental problems.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson spoke in Santa Fe at the opening of the two-day Border Governors Conference.

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Richardson said the U.S. government hasn't provided needed leadership to settle differences over water rights between Mexico and the United States, including Rio Grande and Colorado River water.

His remarks came at a forum on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which went into effect one decade ago.

The governors also focused on border security.

Richardson and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano announced a major border security effort, to be co-chaired by New Mexico State Police Chief Carlos Maldonado.

"Defining exactly what information is beneficial for both sides," will be one of his goals, Maldonado said.

Information about criminals will be one of the subjects. "Often times we have homicide situations where the suspects or alleged suspects, they flee the United States and they go into Mexico," he said.

"Officers on both sides of the border will train together and start to look for the same things at border crossings, starting a relationship they hope the federal government will follow," Maldonado said.

Such relationships may help the fight against terrorism.

"We don't know what it is that will break a (terrorist) cell or identify a cell. That's information we're not capturing right now at our level. So I think it's very, very critical and crucial that we begin at least that," Maldonado said.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger borrowed a phrase from the late President John F. Kennedy when he summed up the need to cooperate this way: Geography has made us neighbors, history has made us friends, and economics makes us partners."